Chapter 231: Straw Bag
What does 300 million rupees mean? The first phase of the Sur Industrial Park project only cost that much.
Damn, Bollywood is still too rich!
A record company was willing to spend a huge amount of money to buy a movie music cassette.
This was indeed a bit beyond Ron's imagination. No wonder the gangs were so keen on investing in Bollywood.
As long as you win the bet, the profits will be comparable to robbing a bank.
Of course, the film songs directed by Chopra have always been known for their extremely brilliant soundtracks, and there is a reason why T-Series Records charges a high price.
Ron's Sun Entertainment Company holds a 21% stake in the company. Excluding the 47 million in costs, the share of music copyright alone is 50 million rupees.
Damn it, if something like this happens twice, his Sur Electric Appliances will not be enough.
"Do you know who called you?" Ron wanted to pull out the gangster who was making trouble behind the scenes and slap him twice. That was his money!
"It seems to be Abu Salem." The other party introduced himself when Chopra answered the call for the first time.
"I'll ask someone to help check it out." Ron wrote down the name.
"Well, if he just wants some money, that's fine, but copyright..."
"It's useless," Ron shook his head. "He wants to use you as an example to scare others."
This matter has caused a lot of controversy recently, not only among people in the circle, but also many gossip newspapers are discussing it.
Salem is now in a difficult situation and will definitely not give up.
Otherwise, the public would think that extortionists only make verbal threats and most of them are “encountered” by the police.
Of course this won’t work. We must kill someone as a sacrifice!
In this way, people will read Abu Salem's name again in the newspapers, and others will be terrified and do whatever they want when they receive a call from him in the future.
Maybe the other gangs are watching too, and if Salem gets what he wants this time, the rest of the gangs will follow suit.
"It's best if you don't go out these few days. If that doesn't work, I can call a police friend of mine and he should send someone to protect you for a while."
"That seems... a little bad." Chopra hesitated.
He believes that being escorted by armed police officers when going out and coming in is detrimental to his image, and it would be better for him to stay at home and not go out.
"Anyway, be careful." Ron immediately went to find Aggie.
If anyone knew Daoud's men well, it was him.
During the bombing, Aij almost completely investigated the Dawood Gang.
Sure enough, Ron just said the name and Aggie immediately remembered it.
He asked someone to find some information and gave Ron a detailed introduction to the other party's background.
Abu Salem, Daoud's extortion expert, was also involved in the bombing.
However, in the past few years, he had been ordered around by Daoud and had long been dissatisfied.
However, because of the case, he had to keep a low profile for the time being.
He has been obsessed with Bollywood for a long time and is extremely eager to participate in film production but is unable to do so.
So he taught himself and became an expert in blackmailing filmmakers by setting up a shell entertainment company.
"In other words, this guy did some things behind Dawood's back?" Ron's eyes lit up.
"Dawood probably knows, but if Salem is willing to share the money, he will turn a blind eye." Aij replied.
"Where does he live now?" Ron asked straight to the point.
"Dubai."
"Why are these guys running abroad one after another?" Ron was a little depressed.
If he could make the other party "meet by chance" in Mumbai today, the Persian Gulf countries would be in a lot of trouble.
"He's on the wanted list. If he doesn't want to be encountered by chance, he can only hide abroad." Aijie sneered.
"Dawood is in Baba Yang, his leaders are in Dubai and the lower echelons of the gang are in Mumbai. How can he control them?"
"More and more people are looking to start their own businesses, and Mumbai will only get more chaotic in the future."
"I'll find him." Ron got up and started to leave.
As long as he is in Dubai, he can't escape. It just takes Vinod more time.
"There will be an industry symposium in a couple of days about extortion in Bollywood. You can go and listen to it."
"Does that thing work?"
"Better than nothing." Aij shrugged.
Well, the police in Mumbai are probably also in a bad state.
Two days later, while Ron was making a satellite call to Vinod in Dubai, Chopra received a further threatening call.
The person who represented Salem was a Bollywood director, who was only responsible for delivering the message.
The general meaning is that if the contract is not signed before the end of the month, the next gun aimed at him will never misfire.
Ron, who heard the news, couldn't help but sigh that Bollywood has been infiltrated like a sieve, and even his fellow directors are spies of the gang.
As I said, the government does not pay attention to Bollywood, and the gangs take advantage of the situation.
They directly interfere with the casting and take care of your this and that.
For example, they would recruit unknown directors and producers who were obedient to their orders, and then call the most popular stars and ask them to cancel their existing filming plans and join the movies invested by the mafia.
As long as there are famous actors appearing in the film, it will be easy for the film to recoup its costs.
If anyone dares to resist, there will be assassins waiting for them.
The lives of young people in Mumbai are worthless. They dare to kill people for 200 rupees. The police can’t catch them all.
As their infiltration becomes deeper, the gangs are also trying to get their hands on the overseas copyrights of movies.
They have such channels, after all, many of the leaders are abroad.
Among those Bollywood stars, which one can go abroad for promotion is entirely decided by the gangs.
When they go abroad, people from Bollywood are more easily manipulated by them.
Every year, flights carrying actors and musicians fly from Barcelona all the way to Boston, and their publicity and tours are all controlled by the gangs behind the scenes.
Over the years, Bollywood and the mafia have developed a wonderful symbiotic relationship.
Filmmakers draw inspiration from the lives of gangsters and make them into movies, and the gangs provide financing for the movies.
Those big guys are keen on entertainment and also follow celebrities. They imitate the images of celebrities on the screen and dress themselves up.
At the same time, they take pride in being able to denigrate movie stars, and they have their own way of establishing their authority.
For example, a phone call can make a big star who fights thousands of enemies with his bare hands in a movie kneel down and beg for mercy from a gangster in order to save his life.
Many bigwigs, including ordinary people, think that acting is a lowly profession.
In short, the relationship between gangsters and Bollywood is complicated, with both yearning and disgust.
Even a Kshatriya like Chopra didn't dare to refuse their investment, but the gangsters' appetite was growing bigger and bigger, which made people unbearable.
He was going to attend an industry meeting organized by the Mumbai government, even though it might not be of much use.
Most of the producers who attended the meeting had close ties with the mafia, and the identities of some were open secrets.
To put it bluntly, many of them are gang spies, and they will report the content of the talks to their superiors in detail: who came and what each person said.
Ron even speculated that the government officials attending the talks also had close ties with the gangs.
Forget it, he has nothing to do anyway, so he will go with Chopra and wait for news from Vinod.
On Saturday evening, the symposium was held at the State Guest House in the Western Ghats. Ron, the Chopras, and Mary went together.
When they arrived at the place, the guard who was checking them let them in directly after seeing Ron.
No one dared to stop them. Ron's face was very useful now.
There are so many buffs that it’s impossible to count them all.
Thanks to him, they were all seated in the front row. When they arrived, the spacious conference room was already full.
There were producers, several B-list stars, Mahalapye's Home Minister Chagan Bhujbal, senior Mumbai police officials and journalists from more than a dozen radio stations.
Rather than a symposium, this place feels more like a press conference.
Funny thing is, the meeting only officially started after all the media reporters and cameramen had left the room.
Not to mention the nonsense mentioned above, the police were the first to complain that the directors did not report the case after being blackmailed.
The producers present were very excited and said that after they reported the case, the local police did nothing.
Some people even said bluntly that the herdsmen involved in gangs were traitors, but they were invited into the police station and received VIP treatment.
The police and the gangs are in cahoots, so it's completely useless for them to report the crime.
Another director complained that he was indeed protected by the police, but his bodyguard was shot dead at his doorstep.
The police chief immediately retorted, "We're here to protect you, not you. Aren't you unharmed?"
For the Mumbai police, bodyguards are expendable and cannot even be considered human beings.
Chopra also questioned why the government did not extradite gang leaders hiding overseas, but instead released a list of filmmakers who owed taxes because they were under police protection?
He threatened the government that if it continued to do nothing, he would consider moving his business to a safer place in Hyderabad.
The film industry is the economic pillar of Mumbai. Without it, Mumbai will collapse.
The Minister of the Interior subconsciously wanted to make a few sarcastic remarks, but when he saw Ron sitting next to him, he changed his words.
"India is a democratic country. I cannot say these words publicly, but I can tell you that I have decided to impose the most severe punishment on the extortionists! Really, the ultimate punishment, no mercy."
Just listen to what politicians say.
Ron finally understood that Mumbai was full of idiots from top to bottom.
Walking out of the conference hall, there is a garbage dump not far from the roadside with a sign saying "For Police Only".
"Look," Chopra pointed out the car window. "If even the police are like this, this country is hopeless."
"To resolve this matter, we still have to rely on extraordinary measures. The police are the last option." Ron chuckled.
"The director general and the home minister are both half-wits. India is full of people like them and we have entrusted our great parliamentary democracy to them, and that is the source of the country's tragedy."
"Don't worry about it for now. I'll probably finish Salem in two days." Ron wasn't interested in half-hearted work.
"Are you sure? I heard he's hiding in Dubai and the Mumbai police can't do anything to him."
“Mumbai police can’t reach that far, but I can.”
"Dude, you don't have business in Dubai, do you?" Chopra was surprised.
"My men found him right away." Ron said in a relaxed tone.
“Oh, the Mumbai police should be ashamed of this!”
Ron shrugged. Actually, it would be good if all India was half-baked.
The more incompetent they are, the more opportunities he has to cause trouble.
(End of this chapter)
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